Your WW 2 role model

Rather than asking the narrow question of wether a particular nation's leadership should be role models, more applicable to the forum here is do you, yourself, have any particular person or persons that served in WW 2 that you hold up as role models?

As for myself I have two:

Captain (later Rear Admiral) Edward Ellsburg. He was a master salvage speicalist. His books are great reading and his contribution to the Allied war effort while almost entirely unknown of was a very vital one. Titles to look for are Under the Red Sea Sun and The Far Shore.

Captain (later Admiral) Daniel V. Gallery. Probably the last naval commander to give the order in battle "AWAY BOARDING PARTIES!" when his anti-submarine group captured the U-505. Post war he wrote a series of very entertaining sea stories in the Captain Fatso series. Again worth a read.

 

My Dad.

 

George S. Patton, crazy as they come, but nevertheless extremly effective. A real soldier in every aspect.

 

Lieutenant General Sir Leslie James Morshead, KC, KBE, CMG, CBE, DSO, ED

Guide to the papers of
Lieutenant General Sir Leslie Morshead

Collection Number: 3DRL 2632 & PR 00368




From:http://www.awm.gov.au/findingaids/process.asp?collection=private&item=morshead

Early Life
Leslie James Morshead was born on 18 September, 1889 at Ballarat East, Victoria, the sixth child of parents William and Mary Eliza Morshead. He attended Mount Pleasant State School where he captained both the cricket and football teams.
Morshead later attended Melbourne Teachers' College, and after gaining his qualifications, taught at schools in regional Victoria and New South Wales. In 1914 prior to the outbreak of war, he was teaching in Melbourne. In addition to his teaching role, he commanded the local cadet corps.
First World War
In September 1914, Morshead was appointed Lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion, AIF. Soon promoted to Captain, he took part in the Gallipoli landings in April 1915, and subsequent actions at Baby 700 and Lone Pine where he was wounded. Morshead returned to Australia briefly while recovering from his wounds and illness, but by 1916 was back in England . Morshead's skill as a commander had not gone unnoticed, for he was promoted again in April 1916, this time to Lieutenant-Colonel, and given command of the 33rd Battalion to lead in France.
During the next two years, Morshead continued to impress senior officers with his Battalion's performance in battles such as Messines, Passchendaele, Villers Bretonneux and Amiens. He was mentioned in despatches six times, awarded the CMG, DSO and the French Legion of Honour. At the end of hostilities in November 1918, Morshead was assigned to the AIF demobilisation staff based in London. By December the following year, he had himself returned to Australia.
Between the wars
Morshead's military appointment officially ended in March 1920. In the year that followed, he considered a life on the land, bought a block of land and worked as a jackeroo, but soon decided it was not for him and returned to Melbourne. On 17 November 1921 he married Myrtle Catherine Hay Woodside. By 1924, Morshead was working for the Orient Line, which took him to Sydney, Brisbane and London. By 1936 he had risen to the position of Sydney branch manager . The following year, he visited London again and while there, observed British military exercises. Morshead had been active in the CMF with apromotion to colonel in 1933 and temporary Brigadier in 1938.
Second World War
At the outbreak of the Second World War, Morshead was appointed to the Second AIF and given command of 18 Brigade. The Brigade accompanied by some other units was first sent to England in May 1940 where they remained for five months until the threat of a German invasion had passed.
By January 1941, Morshead had been appointed CBE and moved to the Middle East. In February he was promoted to Brigadier-General and given command of 9 Division, AIF. In the following months the Allies were forced to retreat under the onslaught of Rommel's Afrika Korps. By April, Morshead's division supported by an assortment of other allied troops, were in Tobruk, ready to face a long siege.
Morshead was given command of the entire fortress and set about ensuring the defences were as strong as possible. The defence of Tobruk was to be his most famous battle, for his troops successfully repulsed strong attacks from German and Italian forces until relieved in October 1941. This stubborn resistance denied Axis forces the port they badly wanted to supply further offensives towards Egypt and the Suez Canal. During this time, Morshead's reputation among his troops for being a tough disciplinarian earned him the nickname "Ming the Merciless," but this seemed to be balanced by a well earned respect as a capable leader and an appreciation that he stood up for his men's best interests.
After Tobruk, Morshead and 9 Division remained in the Middle East after most other AIF units had been transferred to the Australia and the Southwest Pacific. He was appointed KBE in 1942 and promoted to Lieutenant-General. His division played an important and distinguished role in the pivotal battles of El Alamein towards the end of 1942, which finally turned the tide in North Africa.
By February 1943, Morshead and 9 Division had returned to Australia to prepare for action against the Japanese in New Guinea. This time he was given command of a larger unit, the Australian II Corps and was involved in the battles around Finschhafen and Lae. By November 1943 he was elevated to command the entire New Guinea Force and the Second Australian Army. He then was appointed commander of the Australian I Corps in July 1944, which was stationed back in Australia for training. Morshead then led I Corps through the final campaigns in Borneo (notably the amphibious landings at Balikpapan), until the end of the war.
Post War
Immediately afters war's end, Morshead chaired a military court of inquiry into the Malayan campaign and the fall of Singapore. Declining offers for military and diplomatic posts, he returned to employment with the Orient Line, becoming Australian General Manager in 1948. He maintained connections with the military, giving lectures to young officers and making speeches at reunions for 9 Division.
Morshead also held various board positions with prominent companies and in 1957 was appointed to chair a committee reviewing the organisation and functioning of the Defence Department. Soon after, Morshead's health began to fail as he battled cancer. He died on 26 September, 1959. Morshead was given a military funeral, the cortege passing through streets lined with veterans from 9 Division.

 

My father.

 

If you want a role model? How about me? larger than life.
Home Guard...Blitz.... Sword Beach to the German border. Took parrt in every battle until after the Overloon and Venraij battles....Wounded twice... once severely. Did great things as an Engineer in private life.
Handsome! Virile! well spoken.
This posting makes me roll about laughing....I shall now go and sip my afternoon tea with a bloody great big grin all over my face........
Sapper

 

My Dad, who's also my avatar.

 

Nice one Spidge.

I have 2 as well:

Wing Commander Guy Gibson. Utter Bar steward, but he protected his boys and fought to the end.

Bill Large. 83 year old skirt chaser and DEMS gunner. More life in him than all the 20-somethings I know. And he saw everything.

 

At the risk of getting "heavy" again...

Leonard Cheshire, VC, OM, DSO DFC

Not only because he was Britain's leading bomber pilot, more missions than anyone else(144 when the average before being killed or captured was seven at some points in the war), and the RAF's youngest ever Group Captain.

But because after the war he displayed moral courage, not just physical courage. Whatever you think of his religious beliefs and his various humanitarian schemes post-war, the fact is that he was prepared to face ridicule and lose his reputation for what he believed. Not everyone who was prepared to face bullets and flak was prepared to do that.
At the end of WW2, he was as well known as Beckham is today, albeit not as rich (though he sold his Bentley to finance his projects). But he was prepared to give it all up to bedbath an old lady every day - can you see Beckham doing that? Cheshire was probably inspired by Jesus washing his disciple's feet. Later he would sleep in the corridor outside the rooms of TB sufferers that he had taken in, in case they needed him. True, everything came alright for him in the end - the success of the Cheshire homes, UN envoy to Biafra, a peerage and the Order of Merit, and not least a stable family life. But in the twelve years after the war, he frequently did not know where his next meal was coming from; he spent a year in hospital with TB caught from his patients, and he also had a mental breakdown.

Truly a great man.

 

mine to charles upham won two victoria crosses and almost a third he put his men first and did,nt think he deserved the medals.

 

Orde wingate

Orde Wingate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Orde wingate

Orde Wingate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



I'll second that !

 

No one - I have plenty of people who I admire, and I would consider some of them my heroes. However, not role-models in the sense that I understand the term to mean.

 

Leonard Chehsire was one hell of a guy, but even the nutters at 617 considered him to be crazy.

 

I'll go with Charles Hazlitt Upham, too.

Also Jonathan Wainwright, for his stoic endurance of first the siege and fall of the Philippines, and his humiliating captivity, in which he was beaten and had to bow to privates.

Dick Winters of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, as well.